L.A. Billionaire Joins Providence Health

Update: This story has been corrected from an earlier version that said Providence Health & Services operates five hospitals in Los Angeles Country. It actually operates a sixth: St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, which joined the system in March.

L.A. billionaire and biotech entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong will become the global director for cancer services and bioinformatics at Providence Health & Services, the hospital chain announced on Thursday.

Soon-Shiong, L.A. County’s wealthiest resident, will advise cancer doctors and researchers throughout the Providence system, which is based in Renton, Wash. and has six hospitals in Los Angeles County.

The intent is to radically advance cancer care at the hospital chain, which operates in five states. Doctors will work with the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine in Culver City to create the nation’s first clinical genomic network for whole genomic sequencing. The technology will allow doctors to use the genes and molecular signature of each cancer patient to prescribe treatment.

“Using the most advanced, most sophisticated tools imaginable today, we are on a mission to solve the mystery of cancer and establish an adaptive learning system where the power of one can inform many,” Soon-Shiong said in a statement. “Partnering with Providence and the many clinicians treating cancer patients across its five-state system will dramatically advance how we care for people facing cancer.”

Soon-Shiong is the founder and former chief executive of Abraxis BioScience, a cancer drug company that he sold in 2012 for $3 billion. In May, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal’s sister paper, the Los Angeles Business Journal, estimated his wealth at $13.9 billion. That placed him No. 1 on its annual Wealthiest Angelenos list